This exhibition delves into the multifaceted nature of color, tracing its historical, scientific, and artistic significance from the 17th century to contemporary explorations in AI and neuroscience. It examines color's cultural symbolism and its psychological impact through diverse artworks and scientific research.
Colour has long captivated philosophers, artists, historians, and scientists, evolving from intuitive understanding to machine comprehension through recent advances in artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and psychology. This exhibition charts this journey, beginning with Isaac Newton's 17th-century experiments demonstrating sunlight's spectral composition and early 18th-century color mapping.
It showcases contemporary research by leading Spanish scientists in photopharmacology and neurology, alongside a collaboration with Waseda University in Japan that uses AI to colorize historical black and white films. The exhibition critically examines color's cultural and social implications, focusing on shades like red to blue, including culturally significant hues such as pink and purple, and how their meanings have shifted across time and cultures. Pieces by Yves Klein, Esteban Vicente, and Balenciaga are presented alongside popular culture items to explore these questions. An immersive installation by Onionlab, based on research from the University of Lausanne and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, allows visitors to experience their emotional responses to color, while Italian artist Roselena Ramistella's series 'The Warmth' uses thermal imaging to capture people in vulnerable situations, further exploring the link between color and emotion. Commissioned by Miguel Ángel Delgado and María Santoyo, the exhibition invites questions rather than providing definitive answers, acknowledging the deeply personal relationship each individual has with color.
